Abstract

This thesis, through a comparative study of Kosovar Albanian refugees in the UK andItaly, develops an understanding of refugees' attitudes towards return and identifiesthe factors that influence their decision-making process through the analysis of theirinteraction with the country of origin and the society of reception.It formulates a theoretical approach to the study of refugee repatriation based onArcher's form of sociological realism and her morphogenetic model, while also drawingon previous studies of refugee flight, settlement and return, which argue for theadvantage of studying refugee specific issues as part of the whole chain of events thatcharacterise the experience of exile. As such, it represents a contribution towards thetheoretical understanding of refugees in general and refugee repatriation in particular.The case study is grounded on this theoretical approach and analyses refugees' perspectiveson return within the proposed frame. It is based upon a qualitative study throughfieldwork with refugees in both countries of exile and in this respect marks a distinctivecontribution to the study of refugees in the UK and in Italy in general, and to the studyof refugees' approach to return in particular.The thesis dismisses the predominant assumption of governments that' all refugees wantto return' and concludes that refugees' attitudes towards return depend on a range offactors: their relationship with the country of origin, their interaction with the countryof exile and their personal background. More significantly, it demonstrates the linkagesbetween these factors and the time and modality of their flight, their interaction with thereception, integration and repatriation policies of the country of exile and their relationshipwith the conflict and society in the country of origin. In this respect, it representsa contribution to existing studies of refugee repatriation through the development of amore sophisticated account of what influences the decision-making process of refugeesvis-a-vis return.